1. Field
The present invention relates to a cooking apparatus and a method for controlling the same, and, more particularly, to a cooking apparatus to cook an object to be cooked, etc. by use of a blowing fan, and a method for controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a conventional convection type cooking apparatus includes a heater, an oven cavity providing a space in which food is cooked using heat emitted from the heater, a blowing fan disposed in the oven cavity to circulate air inside the oven cavity by convection, convection suction and discharge holes mainly provided at a rear surface of the cavity to suction or discharge the air circulated by rotations of the blowing fan, and at least one tray to support the food thereon so as to locate the food in a cooking chamber.
In operation of the above conventional cooking apparatus, if a user puts food into the oven cavity and inputs a cooking command, the blowing fan is operated to suction the air inside the cavity such that the suctioned air is heated by the heater, and then, operated to discharge the heated air into the cavity. As the air is forcibly circulated by operation of the blowing fan, the food can continuously come into contact with the high-temperature air to receive heat therefrom, thereby being cooked by the heat.
One example of the conventional cooking apparatus is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-2006-0108796 (hereinafter, referred to as a “first publication”).
As one example of the conventional cooking apparatus, a convection oven disclosed in the above first publication is devised to allow hot air to move uniformly within a cooking chamber, so as to achieve a uniform temperature distribution in the cooking chamber and high heat-transfer efficiency. The disclosed convection oven includes: a cooking chamber in which food is cooked; a rack provided in the cooking chamber to put the food thereon; a convection heater and fan unit to feed and circulate hot air into the cooking chamber; a convection chamber enclosing the convection heater and fan unit to move the hot air into the cooking chamber; and a duct installed separately from the convection chamber to guide the hot air from the convection chamber into the cooking chamber.
In the invention disclosed in the first publication, the duct connected with the convection chamber is installed at a side surface of the cooking chamber to allow the hot air to move uniformly into the cooking chamber even when a single heating source is used. However, since the duct to feed the hot air into the cooking chamber is installed to the cooking chamber at a fixed position, the hot air creates a confined air stream, resulting in a limit to the uniform movement of the hot air in the cooking chamber.
Further, although it is necessary during a cooking operation to keep the cooking chamber at a uniform temperature or to heat a predetermined local region of the cooking chamber, according to an object to be cooked, the invention disclosed in the first publication has no function of changing the direction of hot air fed into the cooking chamber and cannot control the temperature distribution of the cooking chamber.
Furthermore, the invention of the first publication discloses only a single cooking chamber. Accordingly, since the overall cooking chamber should be heated even when only a small amount of food is cooked, there is a problem of a long cooking time and excessive consumption of electric power.
Another example of the conventional cooking apparatus is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-2006-0044217 (hereinafter, referred to as a “second publication”).
As another example of the conventional cooking apparatus, a cooking apparatus disclosed in the above second publication includes a body having a cooking chamber, a door to open or close the cooking chamber, a heater unit provided in the body to heat the cooking chamber, a partition detachably provided in the cooking chamber to divide the cooking chamber into a first cooking chamber and a second cooking chamber, and a mode selecting unit to select any one of a single cooking mode using a single cooking chamber having no partition and a double cooking mode using double cooking chambers divided by the partition.
With the above described configuration, when a small amount of food relative to the volume of a cooking space will be cooked, the cooking apparatus disclosed in the second publication employs the partition to divide the cooking chamber into upper and lower cooking chambers, so as to selectively use only a selected cooking chamber. This reduces a cooking time and the consumption of electric power, and allows the upper and lower cooking chambers to be independently operated at different temperatures from each other.
Although the invention disclosed in the second publication can solve problems of the first publication to some extent, it needs to provide a heater and a blowing fan in each of the first and second cooking chambers separated from each other by the partition, resulting in very high manufacturing costs.
Further, since the invention disclosed in the second publication still has no function of changing the direction of hot air to be fed into the cooking chamber, it cannot control the temperature distribution of the cooking chamber similar to the invention of the first publication. That is, even when it is necessary upon a cooking operation to keep the cooking chamber at a uniform temperature or to heat a predetermined local region of the cooking chamber, according to the volume or characteristics of an object to be cooked, the invention disclosed in the second publication cannot satisfy this requirement.